Hand and Ring

MP3 Audio CD. If you are a fan of classic detective fiction, you will be delighted to read Hand and Ring by Anna Katharine Green. Published in 1893, the novel features a murder investigation full of unexpected twists, presented in the characteristic style of the Mother of Detective Fiction.

The murder that brings about the investigation takes place in a town in the state of New York ? a widow named Clemmens is killed while the town?s most influential legal professionals are engaged in a friendly chit-chat down the street, in front of the courthouse. The investigation is not carried out by a single detective ? there is a complete team made up of the best attorneys and detectives following the tracks of the killer and Green?s well-known Inspector Gryce also participates to a certain extent. The investigation reveals the identity of the perpetrator eventually, but what is even more interesting is the process that takes the detective team there. Lots of well-kept, dark secrets are revealed and the men of justice follow circumstantial and physical evidence just as much as their presuppositions and conclusions. The story does not cease to be intriguing and challenging to the very end, the conclusion and the ending being just as surprising as the inquest itself.

Like many other of Green?s novels, Hand and Ring also comes with lengthy courtroom scenes, especially in the second part of the book. As fans of Green?s novels probably know already, her stories are always backed up with the most detailed legal accounts, especially when it comes to court scenes and jury trials. Green is a master of psychology as well ? the inquest unearths lots of old problems and there is lots of drama, too, but, luckily, Inspector Gryce is there as well to assemble the pieces of the puzzle and calm the agitated nerves.